Libertarian icon and Former Texas Representative Dr. Ron Paul appeared on Fox Business channel Friday, heralding a message that neither Sen. Ted Cruz nor any Republican or Democrat candidate for president should win the libertarian vote.
That vote would have gone to Paul’s son, Sen. Rand Paul, who this week suspended his campaign seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
“You’re not going to find anyone in the Republican or the Democratic primary that even comes slightly close to ever being able to claim themselves a libertarian,” the senior Paul told Stuart Varney on Fox Business.
Varney asked if Paul even saw any “free market” candidates, to which Paul said, “I haven’t found ‘em.”
Paul opened up by slamming Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: “He’s a business man, he’s for the free market,” then countering, “But he’s for tariffs and all these other things.”
Paul moved on to Sen. Ted Cruz, saying, “People are liking the Cruz, they think he’s for the free market and he’s owned by Goldman Sachs. I mean he and Hillary have more in common than we would have in common with, uh, with either Cruz or Trump or any of ‘em.”
He did give some leeway to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, who identifies as a Democratic socialist. Paul told Varney, “Strange as it may seem, on occasion Bernie comes up with libertarian views when he talks about taking away the cronyism on Wall Street, so in essence he’s right, and occasionally he voted against war.”
Paul also went on Kennedy’s program on Fox Business, saying that no one in the Republican presidential field even comes close to his son Rand on protection of privacy, reaching out to minorities, making people think about not going to war carelessly. The senior Paul went on to cast others that are seeking the libertarian vote as “pretenders.” He called the effort “a real joke.”
Kennedy brought up Sen. Ted Cruz as one whom she says is seeking the support of libertarians that formerly supported Rand Paul. She asked Ron Paul where these former Rand supporters should shift their support.
Paul replied:
I think they should just forget about the Republican primary and for that matter forget about the Republicans and Democrats because they’re all interventionists when it comes to war, when it comes to monetary policy, when it comes to civil liberties, when it comes to the, you know, all these things they’re [pretty] much interventionists, so if you want to change the world you have to change ideas and you have to reach people. That was the purpose for me in politics is to reach people and try to change their minds.
Paul went on attempting to steer libertarian voters away from remaining Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. “There’s nobody that the libertarians should even consider, either in the Republican or Democratic party,” he said.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.